Assembly was tedious: A mechanism that transferred torque from an Acme nut to the elevation
leadscrew pulley required a machined key and keyway, which added to production costs.
"It's relatively simple to increase
leadscrew pitch, stepper-motor increments, and encoder scales, but without a stable platform to operate from, these improvements are meaningless."
What really sets it apart from rotary-motor
leadscrew systems, however, is its self-locking design.
A ballscrew is used in place of the Acme-thread
leadscrew because it is more accurate, has better wear characteristics, has lower inertia and friction, and will perform more smoothly under far higher cutting loads and accelerations than its Acme counterpart.
The decision didn't come easy for Landis, which has built its success on proven hydrostatic
leadscrew technology.